Sherrill Redmon is an 80- or 81-year-old American journalist, curator, and author, but perhaps best known as the ex-wife of US Senator Mitch McConnell.
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Early life
Sherrill Lynn Redmon was most likely born in 1943 in Louisville, Kentucky USA, but her birth date is unknown. According to PeekYou.com, a website that provides background check services based on publicly available information, Sherrill’s father was Charles, and her mother was Doris. She also had two brothers, David and Walter, and a sister, Lee Ann.
Early education
Sherrill matriculated from Seneca High School in Louisville, then enrolled at the University of Louisville, from which she graduated in 1965 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. That year, Sherrill enrolled at the University of Kentucky in Lexington and was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) degree in American history in 1974. During The National Women’s Conference in 2018, Sherrill said that Betty Friedan, whose books she read in 1964, motivated her to pursue her education. She also said she couldn’t imagine living the same life as her mother, which included staying home, cooking, and cleaning after children. After establishing contact, Betty motivated Sherrill to get a Ph.D. and teach history.
Ex-husband Mitch McConnell
In 1968, Sherrill married Addison Mitchell “Mitch” McConnell III, who was born on 20 February 1942 in Sheffield, Alabama State, US. Mitch is an American politician and former attorney, best known as the senior senator for the Republican Party, who has been representing Kentucky since 1985. He is also the longest-serving Senate party leader in the nation’s history. He was Senate Minority Leader from 2007 to 2015, and returned to the position on 20 January 2021. Mitch also graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Louisville, where he reportedly met Sherrill around 1962. Similarly, he was awarded his Juris Doctor (JD), also known as Doctor of Law, from the University of Kentucky, in 1967.
During The 2018 National Women’s Conference, Sherrill said that she was a housewife during Mitch’s first political campaign. However, she helped him whenever possible because his work ethic inspired her – he had one free Sunday during 10 months of campaigning. Additionally, she was motivated by the fact that he was unknowingly somewhat promoting feminism through the Equal Rights Amendment, on which he worked with Senator Marlow Cook.
Senator McConnell announced that Kentucky will receive more than $1 million in funding to combat drug addiction https://t.co/wXGzyD08aw
— Senator McConnell's Press Office (@McConnellPress) February 19, 2020
Sherrill divorced Mitch in 1980 for undisclosed reasons, although some sources speculate that she had an affair with a Nevada Senator named Harry Reid shortly before the split. When contacted by the New York Times in 2014, Sherrill stated that she ‘wasn’t surprised that Mitch hasn’t mentioned her as his ex-wife.’ The journalists presumed that her personal and professional beliefs, which contradicted Mitch’s political objectives, were the reason.
Children
Sherrill and Mitch have three daughters: Eleanor “Elly”, born in 1972; Claire in 1976; and Porter, born in 1978 or 1979. Claire’s LinkedIn account shows that she earned a Master of Arts degree in German language and literature from The University of Edinburgh, Scotland, in 2012, then in 2014, a Master of Science degree in South Asia and international development from the same university. Claire then worked for the Department for International Development (DFID) and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in England, before moving to Germany to work at the International Institute for Sustainable Development.
According to Porter’s LinkedIn page, she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree with honors from Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, US, in 2000 and her Master of Public Policy degree in 2005 from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan State, US. She later worked for Oxfam America and MPM Strategic Services, then became involved in politics as a term member of the Council of Foreign Relations, a position that she held from 2012 to 2017. In 2013, Porter became the Director of the Financial Transparency Coalition and Senior Director of the Americans for Financial Reform organization in 2017.
Information about Elly is scarce, but she worked as a teacher at The Hawthorne Valley Waldorf School in Ghent, New York State in the early 2000s.
Career
According to the Ailantha blog, Sherrill worked as a graduate assistant at the University of Louisville Archives and Records Center in the late 1970s. A person who worked with her described her as ‘petite, very sweet, and maternal’ and noted that she never wore makeup. That person also shared that before Sherrill was expected to parade alongside Mitch during the Kentucky Derby week in 1977 or 1978, she practiced the wave of the late Queen Elizabeth II, distinct for the cupped palm of the waving hand.
Sherrill also worked as an adjunct professor early in her career. She called the job ‘thankless’ because she only earned $5,500 for seven courses that she taught in a year. Moreover, Sherrill taught classes that other professors rejected because they were scheduled at inconvenient hours.
Smith College
Following her divorce, Sherrill moved to Northampton, Massachusetts, where she found employment at Smith College as a feminist scholar and journalist. After a research period, during which she worked on expanding the college’s library with sources on racially and culturally diverse women, Sherrill was promoted to Director of Smith College’s Sophia Smith Collection of the Women’s History archives in 1993. The repository of photographs, periodicals, manuscripts, and other sources in women’s history has existed since 1942, has always been free of charge,, and reportedly consisted of over 10,000ft or more than 3,000m of material.
Sherrill has contributed to it; her research on Helen and William E. Woodward and her 1190-page-long book, “Debunker: The Life and Writings of W.E. Woodward,” released in 1974, are her notable works.
Moreover, Sherrill had a notable comment on the book “Women’s History Sources: A Guide to Archives and Manuscripts Collections in the United States”, edited by Andrea Hinding for the collection in 1979. She called it ‘the Bible for unreleased papers of women and records of women’s organizations, and a definite place for researchers to start looking.’
“Voices of Feminism”
While at Smith College, Sherrill met fellow journalist and Smith College alumna, Gloria Marie Steinem, born on 25 March 1934 in Toledo, Ohio. Gloria is a nationally well-known social-political activist who has led the second wave of feminism from the early 1960s to the early 1990s. Furthermore, she is a former columnist for New York magazine and a co-founder of the Ms. magazine, first published in 1972, and the Women’s Media Center non-profit organization, founded in 2005. The two met at college reunions and became friends when Gloria helped the college receive grants from the Ford Foundation.
Afterwards, they collaborated on a few projects, arguably the most important being their project on the oral history of women entitled “Voices of Feminism.” According to Smith College’s website, it consists of 79 containers, stretching to 32,896 linear feet or about 10,000 meters of materials, converted to about 2,550 Gigabytes (GB) of digital data. Sherrill revealed that the college received a few million from the Ford Foundation for the research, and that Gloria’s knowledge and network of individuals were instrumental.
Gloria told The New Yorker in 2020 that Sherrill never discussed her early life with her, but that ‘it must have been painful for her to marry and have children with a democratic Jekyll who turned into an authoritarian and corrupt Hyde.’
Other engagements
Sherrill has been in the news infrequently during her working life – in 2004, she introduced Smith College’s exhibition called “Linda Stein, The Face: An Obsession, Three Decades.” Moreover, Smith College announced in 2006 that Sherrill helped compose the directory of 2,200 people entitled ‘Feminists Who Changed America, 1963-1975.” Furthermore, according to Smith College’s website, on 29 March 2010, she spoke at the “21 Trailblazers of New York: A Luncheon to Celebrate 21 Women Who Made History” event in New York City.
Sherrill retired as Director of the Sophia Smith Collection in 2012. PeekYou’s data showed that she resided in Chesterfield, Massachusetts, but Sherrill said during The National Women’s Conference in 2018 that she moved to Whately, Massachusetts. She also noted that she would’ve done more to publicly and personally support various feminism-related causes if she wasn’t busy with her research. However, Sherrill believes that the new generations have accepted and benefitted from her work.
Favorite things
According to online sources, Sherrill’s favorite books are by Franz Kafka, including “The Trial,” published in 1925, “In the Penal Colony,” (1919), and “A Hunger Artist,” released in 1922.
Physical characteristics
Sherrill has dark brown eyes and gray hair. She’s 5ft 4ins (1.62m) tall and weighs about 176.5lbs (80kgs).
Net worth
Sherrill Redmon has a net worth of about $1.5 million from her work at Smith College and an undisclosed divorce settlement amount. According to Celebrity Net Worth, Mitch’s wealth is estimated at $35 million.
